India officials said all elephants living in Indian zoos and circuses will be moved to wildlife parks and game sanctuaries where the animals can graze more freely.
Links: India, Animal

2009 Nov 16

Thai police arrested Samart Chokechoyma (36) and Kanokwan Wongsaroj (38) on charges of smuggling African ivory into the country to supply shops that sell jewelry and trinkets, including to customers in the US. DNA tests showed that it was of African origin.
Links: Thailand, DNA, Animal

2009 Nov 242009 Nov 25

In Nepal the Gadhimai festival, celebrated every five years, is attended by many Hindus from India as well as Nepal. More than 200,000 buffaloes, pigs, goats, chickens and pigeons are expected to be slaughtered this year.
Links: Nepal, Animal, Religion

2009 Nov 24

In Nepal the 2-day Gadhimai festival, celebrated every five years, was attended by many Hindus from India as well as Nepal. More than 200,000 buffaloes, pigs, goats, chickens and pigeons were expected to be slaughtered this year.
Links: Nepal, Animal, Religion

2009 Nov 25

Australian Northern Territory officials said some 6,000 feral camels are running wild in the remote outback community of Docker River in search of water, smashing infrastructure and invading the airstrip.
Links: Australia, Animal

Bison returned to Mexico for the first time since the 1800s, with Mexican authorities releasing 23 donated US animals in northern Chihuahua state. The donated bison came from the Wind Cave National Park in South Dakota.
Links: USA, Mexico, Animal, South Dakota

2009 Nov 30

Interpol and the Kenya Wildlife Service said African authorities over the last 3 months had raided shops, intercepted vehicles at checkpoints and used sniffer dogs to detect and seize over 3,800 pounds (1,768kg) of illegal elephant ivory in a six-nation operation. This involved the wildlife authorities, police and customs departments of Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.
Links: Burundi, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, Kenya, Uganda, Animal

2009 Dec 15

Australian scientists reported the discovery of an octopus in Indonesia that collects coconut shells for shelter, unusually sophisticated behavior that the researchers believe is the first evidence of tool use in an invertebrate animal.
Links: Australia, Indonesia, Animal, Brain

2009 Dec 15

Mexican authorities found the decapitated bodies of four men in the border city of Tijuana. A grenade attack on a police station in western Mexico wounded a pregnant woman and her 3-year-old daughter. US officials delivered five helicopters to Mexico to help the country in its fight against drug cartels. 7 vehicles were burned in Mexico City. Investigators found evidence linking an animal rights group to homemade bombs that burned the cars.
Links: USA, Mayhem, Mexico, Animal

2009 Dec 17

Malaysian marine police rescued 62 pangolins. 2 days later Malaysian wildlife authorities said they rescued 130 pangolins and arrested two men attempting to smuggle the protected species. They were expected to be illegally exported to China, Japan and Hong Kong, where animal's meat is considered a delicacy with medicinal qualities.
Links: Malaysia, Animal

Four of the world's last known 8 northern white rhinos landed in Kenya and were transported to a game park. No white rhinos are known to remain in the wild, and the animals transported have produced no offspring after nearly 24 years in a Czech zoo. Officials hoped the endangered mammals will reproduce and save their subspecies. Two northern whites remained behind; two others are in San Diego.
Links: Kenya, Czech Rep., Animal

2009 Dec 22

Chinese local media reported that a man who killed and ate what may have been the last wild Indochinese tiger in China was sentenced to 12 years in jail. Kang Wannian, a villager from Mengla, Yunnan Province, met the tiger in February while gathering freshwater clams in a nature reserve near China's border with Laos. He claimed to have killed it in self-defense.
Links: China, Animal, Extinction

2009 Dec 28

In central Kenya poachers killed an endangered southern white rhino in a privately owned ranch and cut off its horns. Wildlife Service rangers tracked down the suspected poachers and suspected buyers on Dec 3 and caught them with two rhino horns weighing more than 7 kg (16 pounds) and 647,000 Kenyan shillings ($8,500) in cash. 12 suspects, all of them Kenyans, were arrested as other suspects escaped.
Links: Kenya, Animal

2009

Chinese researchers announced that they had reduced schistosomiasis infection rates in 2 villages near Poyang lake by replacing water buffaloes, a parasite host, with tractors and improved sanitation. The parasitic worm Schistosoma japonicum, carried by tiny snails, caused schistosomiasis, which stood as the world’s 2nd most prevalent disease.
Links: China, Microbiology, Animal

2009

Brad Kessler authored “Goat Song: A Seasonal Life, A short History of Herding and the Art of Making Cheese."
Links: USA, Food, Animal, Books

In Florida the tally of manatee deaths reached a record 429 for the year, surpassing the 2006 record of 417.
Links: Florida, Animal

2009

In the Netherlands 6 people died this year from Q-fever. Some 2,300 had become infected by Coxiella burnetti, the infectious bug responsible for the disease. The bug is released into the air during birthing or miscarriages by infected goats. 40,000 pregnant goats were slated to be destroyedin early 2010.
Links: Netherlands, Microbiology, Animal

2009

Southern California Edison, a utility company preparing to build a new substation in an arid canyon southeast of Los Angeles, stumbled on a trove of animal fossils dating back 1.4 million years. All the bones were dated to the Irvingtonian period, which spanned 1.8 million to 300,000 years ago. The bones found in Riverside County were dated by observing the layers of sediment they were found in and fall at about 1.4 million years ago.
Links: USA, California, Animal

2009

In California an almost completely hairless deer was found dead near Groveland in the western Sierra Nevada. Exotic lice plucked from the deer were identified as Bovicola tibialis, a species that normally feeds on fallow deer native to Europe and Asia. Another exotic louse, Damalinia (Cervicola), documented since 1996 in Oregon, had also spread to deer in northern California.
Links: USA, California, Animal, Insects

TimelinesA text-based site.

2009

British animal rights activist Debbie Vincent became the public face of Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty (SHAC) after seven members of the group were jailed for a total of 50 years for their role in an animal rights campaign.
Links: Britain, Animal

2010 Jan 1

It was reported that Australian researchers have cracked the genetic origin of the deadly cancer that is threatening to wipe out Tasmanian devils, raising hopes that the animal's future is safe.
Links: Australia, DNA, Animal

2010 Jan 4

In Kenya US citizen Sharon Brown (39) and her daughter Margaux (1) were trampled to death when a lone elephant charged out of the brush just outside Mount Kenya National Park.
Links: USA, Kenya, Animal

2010 Jan 8

In Puerto Rico officials said they have killed 800 monkeys blamed for scavenging crops and damaging natural resources in southwest region. Most of those killed were patas monkeys. About 200 rhesus monkeys were sent to the Caribbean Primate Research Center at the University of Puerto Rico and to other countries. The monkeys had escaped from research labs in the 1960s and '70s.
Links: Puerto Rico, Animal, Primates

2010 Jan 13

In Seattle, Washington Tohru Shigemura (71), a Japanese psychiatrist traveling the world as a big game hunter, was charged in connection with smuggling black bear gall bladders. He had pretended to be a US citizen to buy guns, which he used to kill 6 black bears in and around the Quinault Indian Reservation.
Links: USA, Japan, Washington, Animal

The World Wildlife Fund warned that the wild tiger faced extinction in China after having been decimated by poaching and the destruction of its natural habitat.
Links: China, Animal

2010 Jan 22

In Vietnam 19 rare Asiatic moon bears, found at an illegal Taiwanese-owned operation in southern Vietnam, reached a new home at Tam Dao National Park, joining 29 bears already at the rescue center. Ultrasound tests had found evidence of thickened gall bladders, a telltale sign of gall bladder milking. Some may need to have the organ removed because of extensive damage.
Links: Vietnam, Animal

2010 Jan 22

Police in Mexico City rescued 150 ferrets from armed robbers after a high speed chase. 14 boxes of ferrets imported from the US were taken by force by 3 robbers from a truck after it left the Mexico City airport. Two suspects were under arrest and another escaped.
Links: Mexico, Animal, Robbery

2010 Jan 22

In South Africa the national parks authority said poachers have killed 14 rhinos this year. The parks authority announced military patrols in Kruger National Park, where 7 of the rhinos were killed. The other 7 were killed in the North West province.
Links: South Africa, Animal

The UN said that extreme winter weather in 19 of 21 provinces in Mongolia has killed over 1 million in livestock impacting the country’s food supply and worsening poverty.
Links: UN, Mongolia, Animal

2010 Jan 27

In Thailand 13 tiger range states attended the first Ministerial Conference on Tiger Conservation. The aim of the 3-day meeting was to convince countries to pledge to spend more on tiger conservation and set targets for boosting their numbers. The meeting was being organized by Thailand and the Global Tiger Initiative, a coalition formed in 2008 by the World Bank, the Smithsonian Institute and nearly 40 conservation groups. It aimed to double tiger numbers by 2022. The 13 countries attending were Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Links: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Russia, China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Animal

2010 Jan 29

In New Zealand police seized weapons used by two men to slaughter more than 30 dogs owned by a neighbor in what animal welfare authorities said could be the country's worst animal cruelty case.
Links: New Zealand, Animal

2010 Jan 29

In Thailand a dozen Asian nations and Russia vowed to double the number of wild tigers by 2022, crack down on poaching that has devastated the big cats and prohibit the building of roads and bridges that could harm their habitats. The 13 countries included Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, Russia, Thailand and Vietnam.
Links: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Russia, China, India, Nepal, Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Animal

2010 Feb 3

In Florida Stephen Schafer (38) died following a shark attack off an Atlantic coast beach about 100 miles north of Miami.
Links: USA, Florida, Animal

In Afghanistan a bomb planted on a motorcycle ripped through a crowd gathered to watch a dog fight in southern Helmand province, killing three people and wounding more than 30. Afghan border police mistook a group of villagers gathering wood near the Pakistan border as insurgents and opened fire, killing seven civilians. US forces detained Atahullah Wahaab, deputy police chief in Kapisa province, for alleged corruption and links to insurgents.
Links: Tragedy, Animal, Afghan, Corruption

2010 Feb 6

Spanish matador Jairo Miguel Sanchez Alonso (16) killed six bulls in one afternoon, pulling off a feat normally attempted only by seasoned veterans and winning trophies for his skill, ears from animals he had just slain.
Links: Spain, Animal

2010 Feb 8

In Australia ITV Studios, producer of "I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here," was fined 3,000 Australian dollars ($2,615) after pleading guilty of animal cruelty after two reality show contestants skinned, cooked and ate a rat during filming in Australia.
Links: Australia, TV, Animal

2010 Feb 11

Willem Wijnstekers, head of the UN program to protect endangered species, said that Zimbabwe security forces had killed over 200 rhinos over the past 2 years putting that population on the verge of extinction.
Links: UN, Zimbabwe, Animal

Mozambique state media said 2 young men accused of having sex with a goat in central Mozambique are facing criminal charges, and the goat's owner is demanding they make traditional wedding arrangements.
Links: Mozambique, Sex, Animal

2010 Mar 7

In the US Academy Awards the film “The Hurt Locker” triumphed with six prizes and made Kathryn Bigelow the first woman ever to win the directing Oscar. Sandra Bullock won as best actress for "The Blind Side"; Jeff Bridges as best actor for "Crazy Heart"; Mo'Nique as supporting actress for "Precious: Based on the Novel `Push' by Sapphire"; and Christoph Waltz as supporting actor for "Inglourious Basterds." The best documentary feature was won by “The Cove,” an examination of a bloody dolphin hunt filmed with hidden cameras in Taiji, Japan.
Links: USA, Japan, Animal, Film, Film Star

In Qatar a two week UN conference opened with a focus on the Atlantic bluefin tuna and other marine life in the world's overfished oceans. The 175-nation Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) discussed new proposals on regulating the trade in number of plant and animal species.
Links: Qatar, UN, Animal, Fish

2010 Mar 15

At the CITES conference in Qatar a top official with the UN wildlife agency said the world has "failed miserably" at protecting tigers in the wild, bringing an animal that is a symbol for many cultures and religions to "the verge of extinction."
Links: Qatar, UN, Animal

Conservationists at the CITES meeting in Qatar said the Internet has emerged as one of the greatest threats to rare species, fueling the illegal wildlife trade and making it easier to buy everything from live baby lions to wine made from tiger bones.
Links: Qatar, Internet, Animal

2010 Mar 21

In Indonesia a rare Sumatran tiger dragged a man, identified as Darmilus (26), from a hut in Seponjen village near the protected Berbak National Park, and broke his neck as friends tried to rescue the victim.
Links: Indonesia, Animal

2010 Apr 3

It was reported that some 4.5 million animals in Mongolia had perished over the last 3 months. A dry summer in 2009 followed by low temperatures and a heavy snow cover, a phenomenon called the zud, afflicted 19 of the countries 21 provinces.
Links: Mongolia, Animal

2010 Apr 7

Innovation for the Development and Protection of the Environment (IDPE) said that from March 3-28 Congo government troops killed 7 hippos and 5 elephants as well as five antelopes, four baboons, three chimpanzees and two buffalo in Virunga national Park, a UNESCO world heritage. The soldiers "use their wives and cousins to sell the meat" in villages near the park, the IDPE said in a report that included photos of decomposing elephant carcasses.
Links: CongoDRC, Animal

2010 Apr 8

Canada’s annual seal hunt began with this year’s quota raised by 50,000 to 330,000 due to a rising seal herd population estimated at 6.9 million.
Links: Canada, Animal

The US Supreme Court struck down a federal law aimed at banning videos that show graphic violence against animals, saying it violates the right to free speech.
Links: USA, Animal, Supreme Court

2010 Apr 20

Bolivia’s Pres. Evo Morales said that men should stay away from eating chicken if they want to maintain their hair and virility. He said chicken producers inject the birds with female hormones. Producers in the US, EU and other countries abandoned the use of hormones in poultry several decades ago.
Links: Bolivia, Sex, Food, Animal

2010 Apr 22

The world’s first cloned polo pony was born in the US.
Links: USA, Animal

2010 Apr 29

In Vietnam a Javan rhino, one of the world's rarest large mammals, was found shot dead with its horn chopped off in a southern national park, a suspected victim of poachers. There were only three to five Javan rhinos believed left in Vietnam. The animal was first caught on camera at the park in 1999.
Links: Vietnam, Animal

2010 Apr

In Canada some 100 dogs appeared to have been "slaughtered" inhumanely, shortly after the end of the Winter Games. The incident became public after an employee of Outdoor Adventures Whistler filed a compensation claim with the province, saying he was suffering from stress after being forced to shoot the animals and bury them.
Links: Canada, Animal

In Alaska a backpacker shot and killed a grizzly bear with his handgun in Denali National Park. A man and woman reported that they were hiking when the bear emerged from trailside brush and charged the woman.
Links: USA, Alaska, Animal

2010 May 31

A Malaysian government official, Malacca Chief Minister Mohamad Ali Rustam, defended an Indian company's plans to build an animal testing medicine lab in his state, saying that God created monkeys and rats for experiments to benefit humans.
Links: Malaysia, Animal, BioTech, God

2010 Jun 10

The Zimbabwe state wildlife authority said poachers last week killed 10 elephants in a single attack in southeastern Gonarezhou national park. All the tusks were removed, leaving the carcasses on a river bank.
Links: Zimbabwe, Animal

2010 Jun 13

Nepal’s PM Madhav Kumar Nepal and Forest Minister Deepak Bohara summoned conservation officials and the chiefs of police and army ordering them to come up with a strategy to halt the killing of endangered rhinos. 28 of the endangered animals had been killed over the past 11 months.
Links: Nepal, Animal

2010 Jun 21

In Indonesia the discovery of three dead Javan rhinos has intensified efforts to save one of the world's most endangered mammals from extinction, with an electric fence being built around a new sanctuary and breeding ground.
Links: Indonesia, Animal